The RAHK Report for 2/18/18

With Mardi Gras, Valentine's Day, and Ash Wednesday all happening this week, plus a break in the weather that meant we could go to the playground without coats, we have been busy these past few days. But not too busy to sneak in a good amount of reading. Here is this week's Read-at-Home Kids Report.

• Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed, illustrated by Barbara McClintock
  We finished Happy Little Family by Rebecca Caudill on Monday, and moved onto this short, lyrical book about an icy Maine winter, filled with joyful descriptions of anticipating, enjoying, and lamenting the end of ice skating season. Little Bo Peep (age 2) is not that interested, but Little Miss Muffet (age 4) really loves it. 
• Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
  Little Bo Peep loved this book a little too hard this week and tore a page. We had to confiscate the book for mending - and for its own protection. (Bo Peep is a lot rougher on books than her big sister ever was.)

• The Way of the Cross for Children by Jude Winkler
  Miss Muffet spent the whole first part of the day on Ash Wednesday reading this St. Joseph picture book to herself cover to cover. I had it out so we could begin to prepare for actually going to stations one Friday this Lent, but it was completely her idea to read it so thoroughly! 
• Mary Holds My Hand: A Child's Book of Rosary Meditations by Michele Chronister
  With a gift certificate we received from a friend for Jumping Joan's baptism, I ordered three mini decade rosaries from Chews Life, which arrived in the mail this week. On Friday, all three girls held onto a mini decade and we prayed the first sorrowful mystery of the Rosary using the meditation provided in this book. Even Jumping Joan (4 months) seemed to enjoy participating in what Miss Muffet would call "her own baby way" and Miss Muffet surprised me by accurately counting ten Hail Marys without having to watch me. 

• Tell Me a Mitzi by Lore Segal, illustrated by Harriet Pincus
  I remember borrowing this book from the public library as a kid, despite the fact that the illustrations gave me the creeps. When I found it on Open Library, though, I recognized in it a sense of humor and imagination that I knew would resonate with Little Miss Muffet. There are three stories in the book, all told by the parents of a girl named Martha, who frequently requests to hear stories about a made-up little girl named Mitzi who has a baby brother named Jacob.  I read it aloud to her and she loved it, even if she was a little bit confused sometimes about what was real and what was in Martha's parents' imaginations. 
• All the Way Home by Lore Segal, illustrated by James Marshall
  I had never heard of this book, but found it on Open Library after reading Tell Me a Mitzi. This one is a repetitive story about animals who follow a little girl home from the park after she falls and refuses to stop crying. I tried to get Miss Muffet to make the animal sounds each time the animal names were repeated, but she insisted that I just get on with it and read. I think Bo Peep will also like this book, so  I'll try it out with her during the coming week. 
• The Sick-in-Bed Birthday by Linda Wagner Tyler, illustrated by Susan Davis
  I have never actually read this book aloud to anyone, but Bo Peep has been carrying it around with her for a couple of days and when she doesn't have it, Miss Muffet has been reading it to her doll, Baby Robin. The story is a bit dated now, as it involves a child getting chicken pox for her birthday. This happened to me sister when she was four, but it's not too likely to happen to any of my kids now that there is a vaccine. Still, something about the book has attracted both of my older girls and I expect to read it aloud to them this week.